Paperwork error or set up? Renier Diaz de la Portilla vs the Republican Party of Florida

Nothing is easy with the Miami-Dade legislative delegation.

And that's doubly true when it involves a Diaz de la Portilla.

Actually, it's triply true for the three brothers. The eldest is in the Legislature. The other's trying to join him. And the third, Renier, was going to make it a trifecta but he lost in a House race to Manny Diaz on Aug. 14.

But Renier Diaz de la Portilla did beat Diaz simultaneously in an under-the-radar race for an obscure position: Republican Party of Florida state committeeman for Miami-Dade County.

Now comes the complicated part.

The RPOF then said Diaz de la Portilla really didn't win at all because he failed to file a party loyalty oath.

Turns out, he might have.

Diaz de la Portilla furnished a date-stamped oath-of-candidate document along with a "Party Loyalty Oath." (It has this interesting part where he has to phonetically spell out his name: Re-near Dee-az-day-la-Por-tee-ya). The document was witnessed by the same person who notarized the first document on the same time and day 1:19 p.m. June 5, 2012. That's three days before the deadline.

Yet the party claims it never got the document. And it said that Diaz, the runner-up in the race, would therefore get the post (background here).

But Diaz de la Portilla said he had proof. We asked him for it last night. But he didn't give it up. That would have been too easy.

Yeah, it sounds uneccessarily difficult. But this is Dade. And, well, it's complicated.

Sure, this executive committeeman post is a pretty simple one. But it's a position of some influence in the party. So is the position of Renier's oldest brother, Miguel, who's a state Senator. And the middle brother, Alex, could have some more say as well if he wins his state House seat.

With two Diaz de la Portillas in the Legislature, things are going to get a little uncomfortable for Rep. Diaz and his ally, Rep. Jose Oliva, who'd like to be House Speaker in 2018.

Alex Diaz de la Portilla doesn't want that to happen. And he's a guy who knows how to stop things from happening. Just ask Alex Villalobos, who should have been state Senate President in 2009 and 2010. But Alex DIaz de la Portilla engineered a coup against his fellow Republican from Miami and helped install Jeff Atwater, who's now state CFO.